Baseball is one of the most popular games in the United States, Japan, and many Caribbean countries. The game is so popular in the United States that it is known as “the national pastime.” The game features a player with a bat attempting to hit a ball pitched by an opposing player through a rectangular “strike zone” adjacent the batter. To hit the pitched ball, the batter must swing the bat at exactly the right place and time.
Several variations of baseball are widely played. In the form most widely played by boys and young men, the pitcher throws a hard ball having a circumference of about nine inches overhanded. This form of baseball is sometimes known as “hardball.” In the form most widely played by girls and young women, the pitcher throws a ball having a circumference of about twelve inches underhanded. This form of baseball is commonly known as “softball.” Older men and women often play a form of softball commonly known as “slow pitch softball” which is similar to conventional softball, except the pitcher throws the ball at a slower speed and with a much greater arc. The term “baseball” is used herein to include all variations of the game and, as the context requires, to also refer to all types of balls used to play the game. Due to the tremendous growth of competitive sports for girls, softball is growing rapidly in popularity in the United States. Most high schools and many colleges now have girls softball teams.
Techniques have been developed that enable a top men's softball pitcher to throw the ball at speeds in excess of about ninety miles per hour. The top high school girl pitchers are able to throw the ball at speeds in excess of about fifty miles per hour. The pitching motion features a windmill motion with the arm, a strong push off the pitcher's mound with the lower body, and a “snap” of the wrist at release. The snap of the wrist enables the ball to be thrown at a velocity substantially greater than that generated by the motion of the arm and the rest of the body. The ball reaches the batter so quickly that a batter must begin to swing the bat as the pitcher begins the pitching motion. The batter must make a split-second decision after the ball is released to continue the swing or to stop it.
A variety of machines have been developed to pitch baseballs and/or softballs to batters for practice. A first type of machine features one or more rapidly spinning wheels that fling the ball to the batter. An example of such a machine is disclosed in Lin, U.S. Pat. Appln. Publn. No. 2006/0135290, pub. Jun. 22, 2006. These machines are unsatisfactory because they do not simulate the motion of an actual pitcher. In particular, the batter's sense of timing is not improved because he or she cannot coordinate the beginning of the swing with the motion of an arm.
A second type of pitching machine features a reciprocating pitching arm. Examples of such machines are disclosed in Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,308, issued Mar. 23, 1971; Kuizinas, U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,371, issued Feb. 26, 1991; and Stevenson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,282, issued Oct. 8, 1996. The pitching arms of these machines travel through an arc of only about 90 degrees before releasing the ball and rely solely upon the speed attained by the arm during this arc to provide velocity to the pitched ball. In other words, the speed of the machine's pitching arm is much faster than the speed of a real person's pitching arm. As a result, the batter cannot coordinate the beginning of the swing with the motion of the arm.
A third type of pitching machine features a windmill pitching arm that rotates 360 degrees and relies solely upon the speed of the arm to provide the velocity of the pitched ball. Examples of such machines are disclosed in Hunsicker, U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,262, issued Feb. 8, 1972; and Hancock, U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,735, issued Jun. 16, 1992. Although these pitching arms rotate 360 degrees during the pitching cycle, the arc from the point where the ball is picked up to the point where the ball is released is still only about 90 degrees. Because these machines rely solely upon the speed attained by the arm during this arc to provide velocity to the pitched ball, the batter cannot coordinate the beginning of the swing with the motion of the arm.
A fourth type of pitching machine is disclosed in Neuman, U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,617, issued Jan. 14, 2003, which is incorporated by reference. The Neuman pitching machine features a windmill pitching arm that rotates 360 degrees, including an arc of about 200 to 250 degrees at a high speed, with a flip lever that adds to the velocity of the pitched ball. The Neuman closely simulates the pitching motion and release of a human pitcher. The only disadvantage of the Neuman pitching machine is that the pitching arm strikes a stop member with so much force that the machine must be very sturdy. Accordingly, the Neuman pitching machine is relatively heavy and expensive.
Accordingly, there is a demand exists for a windmill pitching machine that closely simulates the pitching motion of a human pitcher and is also relatively light in weight and inexpensive.